Sunday, September 28, 2008

Extremists Attempt to Burn Out London Publisher of The Jewel of Medina

London's Gibson Square, publisher of the new novel about Mohammed's child bride, was firebombed yesterday and three men and one woman have been detained for questioning about the crimeaccording to London's Telegraph.

The blaze yesterday, which led to people being evacuated from the house, may have been started by a petrol bomb pushed through the letter box.

Initially, three men, aged 22, 30 and 40, were detained at around 2.25am yesterday after a fire broke out at a property in Lonsdale Square, Islington. Two were stopped by armed officers in Lonsdale Square, and the third was seized when a car was stopped by armed police near Angel underground station.

...

Speaking before yesterday's attack, Mr Rynja said: "In an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear. As an independent publishing company, we feel strongly that we should not be afraid of the consequences of debate.

"If a novel of quality and skill that casts light on a beautiful subject we know too little of in the West, but have a genuine interest in, cannot be published here, it would truly mean that the clock has been turned back to the dark ages. The Jewel of Medina has become an important barometer of our time."

...

Police also searched four addresses around north-east London yesterday - two in Walthamstow, one in Ilford and one in Forest Gate.

The men, who were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, were being questioned at a central London police station.

Later yesterday a fourth person, a woman, was arrested at a property in Ilford for allegedly obstructing the police, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.

The police confirmed that there had been small fire inside the property in Lonsdale Square, which had to be put out. "At this early stage it is being linked with the arrests," the spokesman added.

Some still live in the Dark Ages - and they want the rest of us to join them. This is disgusting.

16 comments:

I don't know what anyone could ever publish in a book that would make me want to firebomb. I have to admit a perverse curiousity into minds that can become that passionate about something. I'm glad no one got hurt.

Yeah, what John said. Thanks for posting about this--I hadn't heard. (And now I want to read the book!) And just when people in the States (and elsewhere) are considering the implications of banning/censoring books... What timing.

I can't believe anyone would do such a thing. In my mind, people who protest so strongly about books must be afraid of the ideas held within them- which probably means they hold some truth. Must read this book now.

I have never understood why some people try so hard to have books banned and not read by anyone. I also think it is very wrong of anyone to hurt others over what someone else has written. It is a shame that we still have people today who would rather see a building destroyed and people possibly hurt than to have a book read.

Sharley, those folks are still living in the Dark Ages and they will not be satisfied until the rest of us join them there. They need to be fought as hard as possible so that this kind of thing stops...read the book and push it among your friends.

Then it is indeed fiction. In reality, there was, and there still is. The official minimum age of marriage for girls in Yemen is 9 precisely because Mohammed married Aisha when she was 9. The stories of abuse of little girls in that country are horrific, all the more so because it is all perfectly legal under sharia law.

My impression is that the book covers the "marriage" at that young age but that it does not include any scenes involving bedroom scenes and the like.

I assume that the relationship is explained in terms that do not add to the indecency of the situation through unnecessary details or language. I hope that I am right because I have no interest in reading it otherwise.

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